CHICAGO — The Fourth of July holiday is approaching fast and any holiday means a lot of people will be traveling. This weekend is no different and there are already cancellations and delays at Chicago O’Hare Airport.
About 3.5 million people around the country are expected to fly this holiday weekend.
It will be very close to pre-pandemic levels of flying in spite of the cost right now when it comes to things like fuel and ticket prices.
However, there have been a lot of headaches recently in terms of delays and cancellations and O’Hare is no different. Currently, there are about 30 delays and about 22 total cancellations for the day so far.
Nationwide, about a quarter of flights are being delayed — many of them for an hour or more — according to the travel app Hopper.
Problems overall include staff shortages and just the sheer demand for travel post-pandemic — everyone wants to get out and get on a plane to somewhere.
Traveling by car will likely hit a new record with 42 million people expected on the roads this weekend.
According to AAA, Thursday and Friday are expected to be the busiest travel days. The least congested are likely to be Saturday and July Fourth.